The Good Grief Quote 2: Empty Tomb Irrelevant?

"My understanding of Easter has changed over the course of my lifetime. Not just deepened (I trust), but changed. My childhood memories include singing the great Easter hymns, their melody lines as triumphant as their words. My favorite was (and is) 'Christ the Lord is risen today.' Its glorious, repeating alleluias are as wonderful as ever. Almost as vivid in my memory is 'Up from the Grave He arose', its ascending notes emulating the rising of Christ himself. As a child, I took it for granted that Easter meant that Jesus literally rose from the tomb.

I now see Easter very differently. For me, it is irrelevant whether or not the tomb was empty. Whether Easter involved something remarkable happening to the physical body of Jesus is irrelevant. My argument is not that we know the tomb was not empty or that nothing happened to his body, but simply that it doesn't matter. The truth of Easter, as I see it, is not at stake in this issue."

Marcus Borg
Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, pp. 130-131